Abstract: Orientation: Healthcare workers fulfil a critical role in the achievement of economic and social growth. Excessive cost in the private healthcare sector and the importance to increase capacity and retain human resources, have drawn the attention of many stakeholders in South Africa in recent times. Motivational theorists have shown that total rewards are vital when considering how organisations and economies need to sustain employee’s motivational levels to retain healthcare workers and the associated skill. Study / research purpose: The primary objective of the study was to establish whether or not reward serves as motivator for employees in a medical services organisation. Secondly the study was aimed to establish if educational and occupation levels impact the level of motivation of employees. The secondary objectives were to establish whether demographic variables among other variables such as race, age and job families have an impact on employee’s motivation levels. Motivation for the study: An understanding from the opinions gathered from the research would enrich the knowledge of managers and organisations when developing total reward models, policies and practices in medical services organisation within the South African context. Research methodology: An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 3000 employees in medical services organisation via an electronic survey tool. The input from 732 questionnaire respondents was used in the data analyses, to arrive at the main findings. Key / main findings: Through data analysis the results illustrated that employees from the medical services organisation would be motivated by payment (monetary rewards), benefits and promotional opportunities. The results also found that educational levels and profession (clinical versus non-clinical) does not influence the reward preferences and thus the level of motivation of employees. However the results presented significant variances for some of the demographic variables among other variables, specifically for ethnicity / race and gender. Practical implications: The organisation can formulate reward policies and practices more effectively and achieve efficiencies, according to these findings by...